In recent years, as the age of individualization progresses especially amongst youngsters, outdoor fashion oriented things have been in great demand. With this trend, headphones of an ear-hook attachment type having no headband and the like are widely accepted by those who care about their hairstyles and fashions.
Headphones of what is called a neck chain type worn with a cord passed behind a neck, which have been obtained by improving conventional Y-shaped headphones with cords branching in front of the user's chest, are headphones of a convenient method recognized widely, in which when being used, the headphones can be detached and then hung on the shoulders such as hanging down from the neck, and which have been used as a part of clothing by a wearer who does not wear headphones but hangs them on his/her neck or shoulders instead, while walking in town.
An example of such conventional ear-hook headphones of a neck chain type having no headband is shown in FIG. 11. In headphones 1 of the conventional neck chain type, a bridge cord 4 passes from a right unit 2R to a left unit 2L and is connected to a plug-attached cord 5, and this plug-attached cord 5 is connected directly or through, for example, a remote control section not shown in the figure to a destination jack of a portable audio apparatus or the like. Numerals 3, 3 are ear-hook portions which are hooked on the left and right auricles, respectively.
FIG. 12 is an external view showing an example in which the ear-hook headphones 1 of a neck chain type having no headband are worn. When worn on respective ears of a user 6, the left and right units 2L, 2R of the headphones 1 are worn with the bridge cord 4 passed behind his/her ears. FIG. 13 is a drawing in which the headphones 1 are worn and seen from a right backside. Passed behind the neck of the user 6, the bridge cord 4 is connected to the right unit 2R of the headphones 1.
FIG. 14 is a view in which a state of the headphones 1 detached from the ears and hung on the shoulders is seen from a diagonally forward leftside. When the user 6 is using the headphones 1 but not listening to music or the like, the units 2L, 2R can be hung on his/her shoulders with the bridge cord 4 serving as a strap.
FIGS. 15A and 15B show headphones of an inner ear type where the above described ear-hook headphones of a neck chain type are replaced, in which FIG. 15A shows an example of an inner ear type headphone and FIG. 15B shows a schematic view showing an example of the inner ear type headphones of a neck chain type being worn. Similarly to FIG. 12, the bridge cord 4 is passed behind the neck and left and right units 7L, 7R are inserted into the entrances of the external auditory canals of the user 6. Further, respective states in which the inner ear type headphones are worn and hung on the shoulders are similar to those of FIGS. 13 and 14.